As the Senior Vice President of Searching the Scriptures at Insight for Living, Aaron Massey (ThM, 2017) oversees the production of Bible-teaching materials, ministry publications, and communications. In addition to his work, Aaron is a husband to Meg and a father to their two boys. Parenting alongside Meg is tough but tremendously fun. Whether they’re taking the boys to the park, cheering on their seasonal soccer and t-ball all-stars, or setting out on an aquarium expedition to gaze at moon jellies, raising their sons ranks first place when it comes to Aaron’s favorite life experiences. Regardless of where you find Aaron, at work or at home, you’ll find someone dedicated to hard work and excellence. Aaron serves with an enthusiasm and intensity for his loves—namely, words, family, and the person of Christ.
Aaron started his career at Insight for Living as an intern slightly before beginning DTS’s ThM program. When the ministry began construction on its current location, Aaron stepped into a part-time, detail-oriented role—coordinating the building project and working with operations. At the same time, he also occupied another part-time role, writing. In 2020, five days after the birth of his firstborn son, Aaron became a department head.
The things that Aaron loves most about Insight for Living include the people, the content, and the mission. In his current role, he furnishes pastoral and theological oversight for the ministry’s content. One of his projects, Preach the Word, combines written and video content to create preaching labs, which are modeled after Chuck Swindoll’s preaching style, to train pastors worldwide. There’s not a lot of glamour in applying a detail-oriented eye to content. It often involves a hunched back in a room, reading and finessing word after word. Unlike speakers and pastors who can monitor audience engagement, writers and editors sometimes receive very little feedback. One of Aaron’s teammates, Joni, curates positive comments from viewers, listeners, and readers to remind the staff that their work matters. The ministry’s goal is to craft clear, practical, accurate, and relevant content for the purpose of communicating the person of Christ. Aaron ensures that the ministry’s communications, whether internal or external, check off those boxes.
DTS cultivated Aaron’s concern for communicating the truth through both its curriculum and relationships. Aaron had the opportunity to complete an academic internship with Dr. Michael Burer (ThM, 1998; PhD, 2004). They planned a regional ETS event together, and Aaron had the opportunity to present a paper for it. He also got to teach a little. Dr. Burer modeled discipline alongside excellent communication and pedagogical styles. Something Aaron admires about Dr. Burer is his rare ability to pursue precision and extend grace simultaneously. Aaron also enjoyed taking courses with Dr. Reg Grant (ThM, 1981; ThD, 1988). Dr. Grant pushed his students to strive for excellent communication so that their writing would better reveal the true, the good, and the beautiful—something Aaron still does today. Aaron appreciated Dr. Grant’s enthusiasm and intensity, as he shares those traits in common with both Dr. Grant and Dr. Burer.
Aaron also valued Dr. John Hannah (ThM, 1971; ThD, 1974) and his treasure trove of one-liners. Through an independent study with Dr. Hannah, Aaron explored the thoughts of Lesslie Newbigin, a twentieth-century missionary to India. When Newbigin returned to England after almost forty years abroad, he found his home country secularized; therefore, he became a missionary in his home country, seeking ways to reach its culture. He wore lots of hats: pastor, preacher, missionary, evangelist, bishop, social visionary, and apologist. Aaron gleaned a fourfold framework from Newbigin: believers are the signs, first fruits, and foretastes of the new creation, as well as its instruments. Those four roles of the believer in relation to the new creation still shape Aaron’s life today.
In his short story, “Leaf by Niggle,” J.R.R. Tolkien tells the story of two neighbors. Niggle’s a painter obsessed with painting trees. Parish, a gardener who constantly interrupts Niggle’s painting sessions to ask for favors, only notices the weeds in Niggle’s garden, not his paintings. When the neighbors find themselves in a country beyond death, they work together to cultivate a plot of land. Eventually, Parish steps back, examines the landscape, and exclaims, “Niggle’s picture! Did you think of all this, Niggle? I never knew you were so clever. Why didn’t you tell me?”1 Niggle’s painting was no longer a glimpse. It was real. His painting furnished a glimpse into that country beyond death. Like Niggle, believers get to furnish glimpses into the new creation, operating as signs, first fruits, foretastes, and instruments who point to the coming creation. Since Christ is central to the new creation, Aaron strives to make Him known through his communications. And he does so with excellence and enthusiasm.
- J.R.R. Tolkien, “Leaf by Niggle,” (Harper Collins Publishers, 2016), 38. ↩︎
Morgan Dau (ThM, 2023) is an administrative assistant for the Alumni and Career Services Office at Dallas Theological Seminary and a PhD student and writer. She and her husband, An, along with their black cat, call Dallas home.